You can now cast content straight from Google Chrome

Casting content from Google Chrome to a Chromecast (and therefore your TV screen) used to mean installing a separate extension. However, all of the functionality of the Google Cast extension has now been built directly into Chrome, allowing Chromecast owners to cast content from any Chrome-enabled device simply and speedily.

The new Cast option will work in one of two ways, depending on which website you plan to cast from. If you're on a website integrated with Cast and on the same network as your Chromecast, you'll now see a Cast icon. Click it, choose the television set or speakers you want to cast to, and Chrome will do the rest.

If you're on a website not integrated with Cast, you'll find a Cast option in the Chrome menu. From here you can select the source and the destination, as well as various other settings.

Google might have revealed the reason for the small but important change in the Google Chrome Blog post announcing it. The company stated that "in the past month alone, people have casted more than 38 million times from Chrome, watching and listening to more than 50 million hours of content."

This goes to show just how many Chromecasts are in regular use, and why it makes sense to bake its functionality right into Chrome itself.